


One Two Three

by oneawkwardcookie



Series: Hot and Cold [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Chimney's Mum, Embarrassment, F/M, Ficlet, Funny, Innuendo, Meet-Cute, Meet-Ugly, One Night Stands, One Shot, Or At Least I Find This Hilarious, Prompt Fill, SO MUCH Embarassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneawkwardcookie/pseuds/oneawkwardcookie
Summary: The Head of Nursing at Maddie's hospital might have mentioned her son once or twice, but it turns out that Maddie is a little more acquainted with Howard Han than he remembers...
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han, Maddie Buckley/Howie “Chimney” Han
Series: Hot and Cold [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937338
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MaddieandChimney](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/gifts).



> From the Meet-Ugly prompt: you’re my boss’ kid and when we’re introduced, I realized that you’re the awkward one-night-stand I had three years ago (an infamous story my friends still tease me about to this day) and you don’t seem to remember me.

“Ah, Howard, this is Madeleine: one of my charge nurses, newly minted.”

At the sound of the Head of Nursing mentioning her, she turns away from her conversation with Josh, to see…

“Madeleine, this is my son Howard.”

**Howard**

_Chimney._

_It’s Chimney._

She catches eyes with the man, who shoots her a friendly smile.

_He’d been on the other side of the room, his smile bright as he chatted with a group of people, when he’d caught her staring at him. The moment had stretched before she’d made her way over (nothing to do with being shoved by her even drunker roommate, of course…)_

Dr. Han had mentioned her son was a paramedic, and she’d nodded along politely as her boss spoke, thinking about how nice it was that the caring gene ran in the family.

_There was something about the navy-blue shirt and trousers that made her think of firefighters, and she’d been terribly excited when he revealed he was one. He didn’t seem to mind though, only leaning closer._

He reaches out a hand.

_She remembers how those hands felt on her three years ago, fumbling in their drunken eagerness as they pressed her against the wall of a darkened corridor. Not that she was any better, pawing at him with as much finesse as her teenage self as she tried to drag him upstairs. Maybe less – she’d not gotten much… practice lately, between exams and then pulling extra shifts to suck up to the charge nurse._

She’s speechless. He’s left her speechless again.

_They’d got as far as one of the bedrooms, empty save for their frantic gasps, stumbling and tripping over each other onto an unmade bed that they shouldn’t have been on, shedding clothes nonetheless._

“I don’t bite,” he says with a chuckle.

_In between nipping kisses down her neck, he’d asked her if she had a condom._

_“Um, no… have you?”_

_The way he paused had been enough of an answer, so she just pulled him back up to her lips._

“Maddie!” She’s not sure why that’s the one word that makes it through the tangled mess of her mind, but it could be worse…right? He’s still holding his hand out awkwardly, and she’s still gawking at him. Dr. Han is looking at her like she’s lost her mind.

God, this might be more mortifying than last time.

_It clearly wasn’t meant to be, a fact that was only further cemented by her roommate bursting into the room with a brown-haired boy, the latter letting out a surprised shriek at finding her with her top off and him with his trousers around his ankles._

“Well…” he stretches out the vowel, “nice to meet you, Maddie.”

_It’d not been nice so much as utterly mortifying, the mood definitively shut down, leaving them to silently dress under her roommate's stifled giggles, and the alternating grimace and smirk of the man whose bed they'd just been on._

His eyebrow is quirked as he turns to his mother. “I’ll be heading out then.”

_“I’ll be heading out then.” It’s all he’d said, muttered at his feet, before they’d parted ways in the hallway._

_Her friends still sometimes mention the mysterious Chimney and the encounter that’d gone up in smoke._

Between the memory that's seared onto her retinas and the burning sting to her ego at the way that he clearly doesn't remember, her cheeks are going to catch fire before he starts to walk away.

Maybe he’ll be back sooner than he expects.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maddie just wants to forget about Chimney. Dr. Han has other ideas...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This carries straight on from the first chapter.
> 
> Massive shoutout to [novemberhush](https://archiveofourown.org/users/novemberhush/pseuds/novemberhush) for being so lovely and vocal about wanting a continuation of this fic, and to [MaddieandChimney](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney) for bouncing ideas around with me!

As Howard walks away and Maddie turns back to Josh, she’s met with the smuggest grin possible.

“Yes, Josh?” She raises her eyebrows, waiting for whatever is about to burst out of him.

“I finally realise where I recognised you from when we first met.” The grin somehow gets bigger.

“Uh-huh?” She’s grimacing a little now, wondering just where the conversation is going, even while another glimmer of recognition creeps into her consciousness.

“Except you didn’t have quite as many clothes on and neither did Howard over there.”

For the second time in so many minutes, she has to pick her jaw off the ground, although she’s definitely permanently lost her dignity this time. The raised eyebrow of her colleague tells her that there’s no denying it.

"I have to change my name, dye my hair and leave town." She spins on her heel, walking away to the sound of stifled laughter.

  
  


“So...” His mother’s tone of voice has him immediately flicking his eyes up, across the dining table, to find exactly the sort of knowing look he was expecting. “Howie, what did you think of my charge nurse?”

It’s not quite the line of questioning he was expecting, especially since she’d pushed him to meet the Head of Medicine and waxed lyrical about his medical prowess until _both_ men were blushing. Still, he knows better than to underestimate his mother.

“I met a lot of people today, mom, you’ll need to be more specific.”

“Madeleine. _Maddie._ Did you think she was pretty?” He breathes out a sigh, less out of relief and more for finding his feet again on well-trodden ground.

“I’m not sure I quite remember her.” His mother gives him a look that suggests it’s not what she wanted to hear, mouth twisting a little in disbelief.

“Of course you do! She’s a fine young woman, graduated from UCLA just three years ago and she’s already…”

The rest of the sentence is lost to the crashing cacophony in his head, as he’s hit with a crushing realisation, his cheeks flooding involuntarily.

He remembers her.

_He remembers._

“Ah, I knew it.” His mother’s triumphant smile, normally cause for him to grin back, just adds insult to injury now.

“Mom, wait, no, you can’t set us up!”

His protests are lost to the scrapping of her chair and the clattering of dishes, satisfied humming coming from the kitchen.

He should just leave now, keep driving until he hits a state where he’ll never be recognised by anyone ever again.

  
  


Her suspicions are further confirmed when she next wanders around the wards. She spots Maddie from the distance, standing at the bedside of a patient and discussing something with a family member before she returns to the nurses’ station.

By the time she’s walked across, Madeleine has her back turned, talking to another colleague, hands gesticulating around the ward as she talks. The instructions peter off and she notices a few more creases in the back of her charge nurse’s uniform as her colleague gives her a nod of greeting and walks off.

“Dr. Han! I’m surprised to see you on the wards. Pleasantly, obviously, and you can come and go as you please, but you don’t need me to tell you that, of course, or give you permission –“

“Madeleine, I wasn’t coming to check up on you. I just wanted to say that you’re a fine young woman and I wanted to invite you for dinner.”

“…dinner?” The nervous expression has been replaced by a look that’s only a few shades off sheer terror. She realises her mistake.

“I’m not asking you out on a date with me, Miss Buckley.”

“Right, of course, that would be… inappropriate.” She can only smile in the face of the sigh of relief, though she thinks she knows the real reason for the blush that remains on Madeleine’s cheeks.

“Yes, Nurse Buckley, it really would, all things considered! Your work has been exemplary, and I'd like to talk with you about your future, so to speak.”

“Oh, phew! I mean, thank you, that means a lot coming from you.” She’d never known her charge nurse to be so eager to please, but she imagines her feelings for her son might put her in a more nervous mood.

“I think we’ll be spending more time together going forwards, and it’d be good to get to know more about you.”

As she walks away, she just hopes that Madeleine can maintain a little more composure at dinner.

  
  


“So, Dr.Han – ”

“Please, Victoria. And I’ll try to remember to call you, what was the nickname you gave to Howard the other day?”

“Maddie.”

She smiles a little, both at the thought of her son and the way Maddie can no longer meet her eyes, almost mumbling her reply into her food.

“Are you single, Maddie?” She waits for the coughs to subside, pushing the bottle of wine down the table, only to have a hand wave it away.

“Ah, um, yes, it’s rather hard to meet people between shifts. What about yourself?”

“Happily divorced. My life is just my work and my son. My dear, you really should chew your food a little more – as much as actually delivering medical care is something I occasionally miss, I’d rather not have to do the Heimlich manoeuvre in my own dining room.”

“That… would be a good idea.” Maddie takes another large gulp of water.

She’s interrupted from her subtle interrogation by a knock at the door.

“Let me just get the door and then we can continue talking about your future.”

She strides across the atrium, a grin spreading across her face as she confirms who it is through the peephole before opening the door.

“Mom, I heard voices, I thought we were –” As he stands slack-jawed, she takes in his appearance. She’d told him they’d be having a nice dinner, so he should dress appropriately, and she’s grateful that he’d gone for that nice maroon shirt of his.

“Oh, you’re busy, you should have said, I’ll just –” She grabs her son’s shoulder, turning him away from heading back out the way he’d come.

“That’s alright, Madeleine and I wouldn’t mind the company, would we?”

She turns to see Maddie pouring herself a glass of the wine, before returning her gaze to her dumbstruck son.

“You remember Maddie?” There’s a clink behind her and some more sloshing of liquid.

“Uhhhh…” She gives him a gentle tap on his shoulder, which seems to reset the skipping tape of his thoughts. “Yes, I… I can remember.”

“Perfect! I’ll make you up a plate.” Before she heads into the kitchen, she sneaks a glance at both of them, nodding to herself at the pink flushing Maddie’s cheeks and the way that neither of them can seem to keep their eyes off each other, a curious look passing between them.

She’s careful not to make too much noise, but there doesn’t appear to be any conversation happening in the dining room. She’s started frowning at the cutlery, when she hears someone clear their throat.

“Chimney?” Maddie’s tone is apprehensive and is immediately followed by a loud thud.

Plate abandoned, she rushes to find Howard with his head resting on the table and Maddie biting her lip in a rather unsuccessful attempt to stifle her giggles.

“Everything alright here?”

“Yes, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Maybe she needs to see if the knock to his head has given him a concussion, with the way his eyes are flicking between her and Maddie.

Before she can put out a hand to stop his movements and examine him, he’s standing up.

“Can I steal Maddie away from you for a second?”

Her work here is done.

“Of course, take all the time you need.”

She’ll tell anyone who will listen that it was love at first sight for Maddie. Bobby and Athena smile softly at each other before turning back to her. “You should have seen her when she saw my Howie for the first time.”

She squeezes Maddie’s shoulder, and turns to see her nodding along. A pleased grin blooms on her face as she spots someone across the room, eyes tracking them as they approach.

Maddie hooks her arm through Howard’s, spinning him into the conversation. “We were just talking about the first time I saw you.”

Howie’s eyes widen a little before Maddie ploughs on. “I mean, you’ve just got to be _prepared_ for these things, right Howie? You’ve got to make _room_ for the right people in your life.”

It still surprises her how easily Maddie makes him bashful, or how they seem to be able to say so much to each other with very few words. She supposes that’s what makes them work.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated - let me know if you liked this!


End file.
